Wednesday, July 18, 2012

La Lechusa (The Witch Owl)

In the Hispanic folklore of Mexico and Texas,
tales are told of a strange shapeshifting witch known as La Lechusa. In
Spanish, the word lechusa (also spelled lechuza) simply
means “owl.” To those who believe the stories, she is known as the "Witch Owl" or the “Witch Bird.” According to legend, La Lechusa was once a curandera (someone who practices white magic) who, after being
exposed as a witch (or bruja), was
killed by the angry and frightened townspeople. Folklore says that she returned
from beyond the grave as a ghost to seek revenge upon those who murdered her in
the form of a human-sized bird with a woman’s face. Sometimes, she is the ghost
of a woman who was widowed by a man who remarried, or was the devoted wife of
an unfaithful husband. At least, that’s what they say.

The
legend of La Lechusa is very popular in Mexico and Texas. She can appear at any
time, and seems to be particularly widespread in Zavala County. She
particularly enjoys attacking people who have had one too many beers. Many
people believe in her existence, while others claim to have actually seen this
creature. The legends seem to vary quite a bit. In some, she is a vengeful
spirit. In others, she is a woman that has sold her soul to the Devil in order
to gain supernatural powers. Every night, she is said to transform into a five
to six-foot tall bird (most commonly an owl) with the face of a beautiful or
wizened old woman and enormous wings. This resembles the Harpy of Greek
mythology in many ways, but she also bears traits of the Siren and the Banshee.
And like those two entities, La Lechusa uses sound that bears a supernatural
compulsion to lure her prey to her. It is said that when Lechusa locates her
prey, she perches herself in a hidden area, and will then commence making
strange whistling sounds or an eerie sound resembling the crying of a newborn
baby. And anyone who attempts to locate the source of the sound risks their
lives, for they may become the Witch Bird’s next meal. Once she has them in her
sights, she swoops down on the confused and frightened individual and carries
them off to her lair, where she may devour them at her leisure. In the manner
of the Banshee of Irish and Scottish legend, to hear the cry of the Witch Bird
is an omen that someone in the household of the one who heard the cry will die.
In this day and age, most encounters with La Lechusa occur when she swoops down
on cars that are driving on a deserted road late at night. Usually, nobody is
hurt in these encounters. But all who report such sightings mention one thing:
the encounter terrified them.

Having
made a pact with Satan as a witch, La Lechusa possesses supernatural powers
that are granted by her magic and her shapeshifting abilities. The Lechusa
possesses a nearly supernatural degree of strength, as she can pick up children
and possibly adults with her talons and carry them off. This makes her more
powerful than any known bird. One of the distinguishing powers of the Witch Owl
is her ability to summon storms (and, quite possibly, to direct and control
them). In the olden days, sightings of La Lechusa almost always coincided with
the appearance of thunderstorms. One
of the more obvious abilities of La Lechusa is her power of shapeshifting. She
is able to become a man-sized bird creature by night. However, it is unknown if
she is able to take the form of other birds, or if she is only limited to
becoming an owl (although some legends do tell of her becoming an eagle).
Furthermore, as mentioned previously, she can disguise her voice to make it
sound like a crying infant’s in order to draw human prey closer. It is said
that La Lechusa is immortal, and that mere bullets and forged steel cannot harm
her.

Other
legends of the Witch Bird beg to differ. According to these tidbits of
folklore, La Lechusa can be killed or
warded off. Like most creatures that serve the darkness, the Lechusa hates salt
(renowned for its purity). An unbroken line or circle of salt should ward her
off (either table salt or sea salt will work, but it must be free of any
impurities, like iodide). Saying the “Hail Mary” backwards (in Spanish) will
cause her to flee. Cussing at the creature in Spanish will also drive the Witch
Bird away. Some of the older tales suggest that a Mexican shaman can walk out
to where the Lechusa is supposed to be and, after he recites a specific prayer,
the creature will drop dead out of the tree. It is recommended that one fall
back on four basic remedies if La Lechusa comes after them: Prayer, tying seven
knots into a piece of string or a rope, hiring a good witch (again, a curandera), and finally, blasting the
creature with a shotgun while she has taken the form of a bird. Some legends say that the gun must be loaded with bullets that have a cross engraved into the bullet's head (which can be done by cutting into the soft lead with a knife to make the cross shape). Folklore varies
widely, so knowing all of this may prove to be invaluable when hunting this
creature.

Ironically,
it is said by some that not all Lechusa are evil, or even bad. Some only go
after those who have done harm to others. But, as the people of the border say,
“Las lechuzas, por regular, no son peligrosas.”
What does this mean? That La Lechusa is not dangerous. Normally.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my good friend Jaime Gallinar (aka Cryptid Hunter) for introducing me to this strange creature the other day. He provided resources and information for me when I needed it. Thanks, Jaime! I owe you one, man!

Well I hear her all the time since I was 14 I have had moments when I was sad about losing my family to foster care and a disappointment that the guy I was engaged to would not work out. She whissels like words some times. I think she prays after me because I am a someone who has been dealt a heard deck of cards and she comforts me it is scary sometimes and I want it to stop but I can't deny I am able to show people around me if she has started whistling then I always have a believer and I am not crazy just know from experience even tonight. :)

Saying things backward, especially a prayer, is Satanic. Trust Our Lady with the petition to her, who gets The Lord, Jesus, help. If you can't bring yourself to go to Mary as our intercessor with her son, who intercedes with the Father for us, at least say Christ's name. Demons fear the name of any of them.

Your blog is incredible, so informative! As someone who studies the Occult, paranormal and cryptozoology...this blog is heaven, lol! Keep up the good work, and I look forward to reading more of your blogs!

My family and I grew up learning about these creatures. You say cuzing at em in spanish drives em away, DON'T DO THAT EVER!!! That is the worse thing you can do. They will feel insulted and will attack. My uncle did this and the creature litterally threw up some kind of stuff on him, and attacked him. He mocked her n apparently she did not like that at all.. And you have to get a rope n pray el santo rosario basically all hail marys n tie a knot after each prayer with a rope to kill it.

I too have heard this story growing up..being from San Antonio my grandmother used to say that when I was a baby and I would cry LA LECHUZA would try to grab me because it thought I was trying to lure her prey away from her..she would sit on the tree outside our house waiting for me to be himself until my great grandmother blessed the house and cussed at her in Spanish...this scared the hell out of me!!!

My great grandfather studied this black magic book extensively after working in the fields. My grandmother says he'd use black magic to help cursed individuals. He'd say a ritual and tie specific knots in a rope and the lechuza wouldn't drop dead but drop from the sky and turn back to human. He then would curse and interogate the witch.

My neighbor was supposedley cursed by one and saw it flying above her at a walmart. Story has it crows would infest s tree outside her window and wouldn't let her sleep. Atleast everyone I know has a lechuza story and I think dates back to the native american aspect of hispanic history

I've heard many stories but I have a friend from Mexico who told us a story,The story goes if it's windy and you blow Into the wind and the wind stops and then the wind licks back up bit you can hear a loud windy whistle that means laechuza heard you and wants to kill you or hurt your family That's the first warning The second one is you'll hear scratching on your roof and flapping Don't go to your window because they say she'll be waiting for you to get close so she can grab you and fly away And the last part is You'll get a knock on the door late at night and you'll see an old lady and she'll ask for a drink of water Give her water and say goodnight She's very tricky and will ask to come in don't let her come in or she will kill you and your family The only way to rid her is fireworks and a blessing of a priest andOne more thing my friend says never look into her eyes or she will turn you into stone and take your soul to the devil

I believe what your friend told you. I have a lechuza right now. And she's outside....waiting idk why or for what..the other night I went to the restroom and when I came out I heard an owl hoot.then for some appearent reason it stop so I went back to my bed. Then suddenly..I heard a cat meowing right at my door...wanting to come in...she is real. Her shift shaping powers are real. My little sister heard her fake baby cry. And my brother has seen her through the window... idk what we did to the lechuza...but I seriously want her gone...

I was dropping off a friend in hargill in the middle of the night several months back. Saw what I thought was a cat crossing the road and when my car got near it, it jumped and spread it's wings. It was HUGE. Maybe 15 foot wingspan. Hit the thing on accident in my car and have scratches on my driver side pillar cuz of it.

According to my dad, I had an aunt name Juliana who was supposedly into witchcraft. Most of the things she did were spoiling food and filling them with worms, nothing major. At one point they were holding a funeral for this man in a village when all of a sudden they saw a Lechuza. The people started showering it with rocks until it finally ran away. The next day, when people saw my aunt Juliana she was covered in in wounds. Her face was black and blue and when people asked her what happened her only reply is that she fell. Kinda suspicious.

I live in Illinois. I'm 19, as a young baby i was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Adopted @ 8 months old we moved place to place settling down finally in the small town of am hour north of St. Louis. Never before have I heard of this legend until tonight. I've always had an unnatural fear of owls. They terrify me. Watching a show I learned that Mayans feared owls. Believing them to be gods of the damned. My neighbor is around my age and was also adopted from Guatemala. That being said we are the only ones in this town born out of the country. The only ones born in I know of in the county from Guatemala. And oddly enough there is this owl that sits on top of either my house or his. I've seen this same owl well over a dozen times with my own eyes. My neighbor, on the other hand, has never seen it. I hear it several times a week. I don't think it means us harm. While my neighbor is spoiled and seems like his life is all good, my life has been turmoil. Full of death, pain, suffering.. I've stared directly into the eyes of this owl, just glad I was always walking with my girlfriend at the time. She saw it. Scared we would always rush into the house. Tonight I read this blog. I'm not lying when I say this is the first time I've heard this legend and I'm not lying when I say as soon this show came on about the La Lechuza it started to rain and as soon as the show ended it stopped raining. I decided to research just based on the owl sitting on my roof and me being Mayan. I read it can cause and possibly control storms.. That part scared me a lot. But I think this possible La Lechuza may be my protector rather than my demise. I've almost lost my life several times due to women and bad circumstance.. I was told each time I should have died. I'm still here. Maybe she is.. But then again I'm very religious. I have all religious tattoos on my body. And I almost always have a crucifix necklace or a ring with the cross on it on. Jesus Christ is tattooed on my right arm. A nailed cross. The alpha omega crown symbol. Maybe she can't touch me. But rather just watching. Waiting. Either way.. I'm still scared of owls.

I am front West Texas and was driving from Big Lake to Iraan in 1997. It was around 11pm and there was not a car in sight. I drove this route late a few times a week...its always pretty quiet. I could see way down that long straight road and there was something standing right in the middle of the road. I started to.slow down so I wouldnt hit it. It didn't move so ii kept slowing down. Ahh, I shed a tear and have the chills as I write this. An animal will run out in the middle of nowhere and a car comes unless...its dead. As I got closer I could see eyes looking at me red as satans, about 3 or 4 foot tall wings closed around body. I was mesmerized and slowed too much and snapped out of it and took off. I have never seen anything like it and I was born right out there in the Chihuahuan dessert. I had always heard of all the legends out here and thought they were just that...but now, I know.

Hahaha, I am a Lechuza. I used to scare the crap out of those around me. I'd whistle at night, and others of my kind would always whistle back. Even now, in different countries and cultures, invariably someone always ends up nicknaming me "Night Owl" in their own language. I don't even have to tell them, they know.

The story of the last wich ( Enriqueta Martí 1913 ) killed at least 40 children and drink their blood. More than that using human fat, blood, hair and bones of victims to make magic potions. invenitmundo.blogspot.com

About Me

I'm 29 years old, have a brother and two sisters, and I am currently at work researching for a book.
If you have had an encounter of a supernatural or a paranormal nature, please email me at KPG1986@msn.com. Please give me details on the appearance, the location, the behavior (if any could be observed), and whether or not the creature behaved in a threatening manner towards you. I'm not an expert on these creatures, but I'll try to help in any way that I possibly can. And when I send you a response, please take the time to send an email back. Thank you!